Background

Dr. John S. Langford Founded Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation in May 1989 and serves as its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer and also served as its President until October 1, 2012. Dr. Langford is an experienced aerospace industry veteran and entrepreneur, having founded Aurora Flight Sciences in 1989 and Athena Technologies in 1998. As a student, he was employed by Lockheed Corporation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. After ... graduation, he worked for Lockheed as an Engineer on the development of the F-117 stealth fighter. He worked for the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia before founding his first company in 1989. While at MIT, Langford organized and led a series of human-powered aircraft projects, culminating in the Daedalus Project which in 1988 shattered the world distance and endurance records for human-powered flight with a 72 mile flight between the Greek islands of Crete and Santorini. He serves as a Member of Board of Governors at Aerospace Industries Association. Dr. Langford has been awarded the DeFlorez Prize from MIT (1979), the Kremer Speed Prize from the Royal Aeronautical Society (1984), the Young Engineer of the Year award from the AIAA National Capital Section (1989), the National Tibbets Award for outstanding contributions to the SBIR Program (1996) and the Barry M. Goldwater Educator Award from the AIAA (2000). Dr. Langford holds the grade of Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Fellow status in the Royal Aeronautical Society. He was chosen as one of Virginia's Outstanding Industrialists for 2004 by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was named Virginia's Small Business Person of the Year for 2004 by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Dr. Langford returned to MIT in the mid 1980s for graduate work, where he earned a Master's in aeronautics, a Master's in defense policy, and a Doctoral degree in Aeronautics and public policy. Dr. Langford earned his undergraduate degree in Aeronautics from MIT in 1979.

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